Architecture students to rebuild flood affected colony

The huge destruction of houses caused by floods and landslides in the recent days has created a huge loss. This loss is being thought upon for anticipating by the architecture students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT-C) with the idea of providing free home design solutions to the flood-hit families.

The designs comprise the use of Glass Fibre Reinforced Gypsum (GFRG) panels, which is an emerging sustainable building material and facilitates rapid construction.

To help in rebuilding the spaces the students are planning to adopt a colony in the flood-affected area. Until now Rs 90,000 has been collected.

The NIT-C Architecture Student’s Association (ASA) secretary- A Aravind also stated that a standard prototype module of a house which can be replicated, shall be designed and GFRG panels can save the cost of construction up to 30 per cent.

The material has already been approved by the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) of the MoHUA, he added.

Aravind said this material has been approved after thorough research by the IIT team in Madras along with a test for earthquake resistance under different loading conditions.

The design is also stated to be eco-friendly as the materials are made using recycled industrial waste gypsum.